The UK has published its long-awaited bill to amend the 2005 Gambling Act to regulate remote gambling in Great Britain on a point-of-consumption basis.
The Draft Gambling (Licensing & Advertising) Bill will require operators to hold a Gambling Commission licence to continue transacting with British consumers and to advertise in Great Britain. HM Treasury has yet to publish the level of the accompanying tax on operators based on location of gambler, not company, also slated for introduction in December 2014.
The bill will introduce a “light touch” regulatory regime, aimed at “avoiding duplication by relying on the work of other regulators”, with operators in well-regulated jurisdictions avoiding “significant increases in licensing costs”.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said that for the first time, overseas based operators would be required to inform the Gambling Commission about suspicious betting patterns, and also to contribute to research, education and treatment of problem gambling.
Minister for Sport & Tourism, Hugh Robertson, said: “These reforms will ensure consistency and a level playing field as all overseas operators will be subject to the same regulatory standards and requirements as British-based operators.”
The DCMS press release stated that HM Government hoped to introduce the bill in the third session of Parliament, due to end in Spring 2013. The bill was also notified to the European Commission today for its mandatory standstill period set aside for review of proposed changes to EU Member State’s gambling laws, meaning the legislation cannot be adopted before 4 March 2013.
The Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee of MPs, recently critical in its report on the 2005 Gambling Act of “unclear” government proposals for regulating the industry from December 2014, as well as of the competency of the Gambling Commission to carry out these functions, will carry out pre-legislative scrutiny of the bill to “ensure that the bill is well prepared for introduction to Parliament”, according to Robertson.
The Select Committee also cast doubts over claims that consumer protection and not the desire to collect taxes was at the centre of the government’s drive to overhaul the regulatory system for online gambling, arguing that it had “seen no evidence that the existing White Listed jurisdictions posed a greater threat of problem gambling than UK or EU-based operators”. The current system allows operators licensed in EEA Member States, Gibraltar and white-listed jurisdictions of Alderney, Isle of Man, Antigua and Tasmania to offer online gambling to British consumers.
MPs in their report on the 2005 Gambling Act however welcomed the introduction of a POC tax to address “the failure” of the UK government “to set remote gambling taxation at a level at which online operators could remain within the UK and regulated by the Gambling Commission”, which has led to all but one of the UK major operators relocating their online businesses offshore. Now only bet365 remains standing among major UK operators with an appreciable part of its onlne business - its sportsbook - licensed, regulated and taxed by the Gambling Commission.
Gambling Commission chairman Philip Graf said today that his organisation now regulated “less than 20 percent of online gambling by British consumers”.
Article written by Stephen Carter
